
1 



HISTORIC BURIAL-PLACES 



OF 



BOSTON AND VICINITY, 



BY 



JOHN M. MERRTAM. 



HISTORIC BURIAL-PLACES 



OF 



BOSTON AND VICINITY, 



JOHN M. MERRIAM. 



From Procekdings ok thk American Antiquarian Society, at the 
Annual Meeting, October 21, 1891. 



WovcciStcv, IHa.si.o., HI. ^. §i. 

PRESS OF CHARLES HAMILTON, 
311 M A I N S T K E E T . 

1 S !• 2 . 



HISTORIC BURIAL-PLACES OF BOSTON AND VICINITY. 



Every student of American History will tind in e:irly 
Boston a favorite subject. In her history are the begin- 
nings of all the great social, political and religious progress- 
ive movements toward the present America. However great 
the pride of the native Bostonian, others not so fortunate 
must excuse and conmiend it. If Chief Justice Sewall, in 
his dream of the Saviour's visit to Boston (I. Diary, p. 115) 
could have looked forward a century and more, he might 
well have expressed even greater admiration for the "Wis- 
dom of Christ in coming hither and spending some part of 
his short life here." 

Among the many ol))ects so strongly stam})ed as historic 
by association with the men and events of early Boston, 
none to-day possesses keener interest to members of the 
American Antiquarian Society than the old graveyards. 
It was with great gratitication, therefore, that a party of 
gentlemen^ many of whom are members of this Society, 
was permitted last May, by the invitation of Hon. George 
F. Hoar, to visit the more imi)ortantof these ancient l>urial- 
places, and later, in July, by the courtesy of Mr. Charles 
Francis Adams, to visit the old burving-ground and other 
historic places in Quincy. 

The oldest place of l)urial in Boston is the King's Chapel 
Yard on Tremont street. Long before this place was asso- 
ciated with King's Chapel, it was a graveyard. Tradition, 
coming from Judge Sewall, through Rev. Thomas Prince, 
has it that Isaac Johnson, one of the twelve signers of the 
agreement "to pass the seas (under God's protection) to 

1 Those ijentlemen were: George F. Hoar, George E. Ellis, Edward E. 
Hale, AiuVrew P. Peabodv, Nathaniel Paine, Stephen Salisbury, Samuel A. 
Green, Elijah H. Stoddard. Edward L. Davis, Edward II. Hall, James K. 
Huunewell, Charles C. Smith, Edmund M. Barton, Thomas L. Nelson, Charles 
A. Chase, Samuel S. Green, .J. Evarts (ireene, William W. Rice, G. Stanley 
Hall, Roekwood Hoar, Edward W. Doherty, and John M. Merriam. At 
Quincy there were in addition Charles Frauds Adams and Daniel 31. Wilson. 



inhabit and continue in New England," signed at Cam- 
bridge, August 26, 1629, by Winthrop and his followers, 
one of the first Assistants, and probably the second white 
settler on the Boston peninsula, was buried at the southwest 
corner of his lot, in September, 1630. His lot was the 
square now enclosed by Washington, School, Treniont and 
Court streets. According to this old tradition it was 
around Johnson's grave that the settlers buried their dead, 
and the place remained for many years the only burial- 
ground.^ 

Tlie earliest interment that is recorded on stone is that of 
Governor John Winthrop in 1649.^ This old Winthrop 



''■ This tradition is givea in Prince's Annals, Part II., Section 2, p. 2, as follows : 
" And the late chief Justice Samuel Sewall, Esq; informed me; Tliat this Mr. 
Johnson was the principal Cause of settling the town of Boston, and so of its 
becoming the Metropolis and had I'emoved hither; had chose for his Lot the 
great square lying between Gornhill on the S. E, Tree-moxint- Street on the 
N. W, Queen- Street on the N. E, and School- Street on the S. W; and on his 
Death-Bed desiring to be buried at the upper End of his Lot, in Faith of his 
rising in it, He was accordingly Buried there; which gave occasion for the 
first Burying Place of this Town to be laid out round about his Grave."— A 
Chronological History of New England in the form of Annals, by Thomas 
Prince, M. A. Boston, N. E., 1736. 

•^ The funeral of Governor "Winthrop has been so beautifully portrayed by 
his worthy descendant, the Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, tliat his associates 
in this society will gladly pardon me if I pause a moment to repeat his de- 
scription:—" That 13th of April, 1649, must have witnessed a memorable gath- 
ering on the spot which these windows of ours now look out upon. It re- 
quires no stretch of imagination to depict the scene when the old father of the 
town and colony, who had brought over the Charter of Massachusetts, as 
the first full Governor, nineteen years before, and who liad held the office of 
Governor, with the exception of four or five years, during the whole period, 
was borne at last, as Governor, to his grave. Dudley, then deputy Governor, 
rOndicott, Bellingham, and Bradstreet must certainly have been there. John 
Cotton, John Wilson, Thomas Shepard, and the revered John Eliot, among 
the clergy, could not fail to have been present; and the latter may have been 
attended by a group of the Indians, to whom he was the apostle, and whom 
Winthrop had uniformly befriended during his life. There is an old family 
record of one of the Pequod Sagamores coming to Boston at the time, and 
exclaiming, ' He is alive, he is alive' on seeing the Governor's portrait in tJie 
parlor. Increase Nowell, the old secretary, and John Clark were doubtless 
there, with Winthrop the younger, from Connecticut. Possibly Bradford or 
some of the I'ilgrims may liave come from Plymouth, and may have given 
Morton his account of the * great solemnity and honor ' of the occasion. 
The artillery otlicers, probably what is now known as the Ancient and Honoi'- 



tomb is within a rod or two of Tremont street, and the 
building of the Massachusetts Historical Society.^ Margaret, 
the devoted wife of Governor Winthro[), was undoubtedly 
buried in the same place in 1647. The Winthrop tomb has 
an especial interest for Connecticut as well as Massachusetts, 
for here, too, is buried her first Governor, John Winthrop, 
Jr.- A third Governor, Fitz-John Winthrop, was buried 
here in 1707.3 

able Artillery Company, whose charter had been signed by Winthrop in 1638, 
are recorded as havint? been present, and as havinj^ taken the responsibility 
of using a barrel and a half of the colony powder, without leave, for funeral 
salutes; for which the colony indemnified them at the next meeting of the 
General Court There were no religious services or ser- 
mons at funerals at that period of our colonial history No re- 
ligious exercises were needed, however, to make the occasion a solemn one. 
Hutchinson, who had access to all the contemporary records, speaks of 'the 
general grief through the colony'; and it is easy to picture to ourselves the 
authorities and the people of the town and the neighborhood assembling at 
the •Governor's house, and following the corpse, borni; by loving hands, for 
there were no hearses in those days, to the tomb or grave, which it is uow 
proposed in some quarters to desecrate and do away." (XVII. Proceedings 
Mass. Hist. Soc., 129.) 
1 The horizontal stone slab is inscribed as follows : 
JOHN WINTHROP, 
Governor of Massachusetts, 
died 164J). 
Major General 
WAIT STILL WINTHROP 
died Sept. 711.^ 1717 Aged Hi Years. 

ANN WINTHROP SEARS 

the AVife of David Sears, 

died Octr. 2'' 1789 Aged 33 Years. 

- Sewall records his death and burial as follows: "April ") (IGTti) Wednes- 
day. Governor Winthrop dyes. Interred old Burying place Monday follow- 
ing." (I. Diary, p. 12.) 

•' There are two references to the funeral in Sewall's Diary. The first is in 
the list of funerals at which Sewall was a bearer. It is as follows: '*6!) Deer. 
4, 1707 The Honble. F. J. Winthrop, Governor of Connecticut. Scarf, Ring, 
Gloves, Escutcheon. Gov. W. Tomb." (II. Diary, p, 11.) In the body of the 
Diary is a fuller account. " Dee. 4. Mr. C. Mather preaches a very good 
funeral sermon. Govr. Winthrop is buried from the Council Chamber, Foot 
Companies in Arms, and Two Troops. Armor carried, a Led Horse, liear- 
ers. Govr., Mr. Russell; Mr. Cooke, Major Drown; Col. Hutchinson, Sewall; 
Mr. Secratary, Mr. Sergeant. Father, Sou and Grandson ly together in one 
Tomb in the old burying place. Was a vast concourse of people." (II. Diary, 
p. 204.) 



Ao^ain, in 1717, "the reo^iment attended in arms" at this 
same tomb at the funeral of Chief Justice and Major-Gen- 
eral Wait Still Winthrop, "excellent for Parentage, Piety, 
Prudence, Philosophy, Love to New England Ways and 
people very Eminent."^ 

Probably there is no tomb in New England that contains 
the dust of four men who had so much to do with the plant- 
ing of States as did Governor John Winthrop, his son 
John, and his grandsons Fitz-John and Wait Still. 

Near this tomb which recalls so much of the early politi- 
cal history of New England, is another which brings before 
us with equal vividness the history of the Puritan Church.- 

John Cotton came to New England in 1G33, having with 
difficulty escaped the High Commission, and having been 
censured by Archbishop Laud because he would not kneel 
at the sacrament. His own meeting-house has now wholly 
disappeared, having stood on the site of Brazer's building 
on State street, and his tomb is included within the limits 
of a burial-place generally known as the King's Chapel 
Yard. These early ministers, with the exception of 



i'"The streets were crowded with people; was laid in Gov. Winthrop 
tomb iu Old Burying Place." (III. Sewall's Diary, p. MG.) 

■- The inscription is as follows : 

Here Lyes 

lutombed the Bodyes 

of the Famous, Reverend 

and Learned Paftors of the Firft 

Church of CHRIST in BOSTON: 

viz. 

W. JOHN COTTON, Aged 67 Years; Dec'i. Deem'". 

the 23>'^ 1652. 

M--. JOHN DAVENPORT, Aged 72 Years; Dcc'i. 
March the 15"S 1670. 

M'-. JOHN OXONBRIDGE, Aged 66 Years; Dec'. 
Decmi"- the 28"', 1674. 

M'-. THOMAS BRIDGE, Aged 58 Years; Dec'. 
September the 26"s 1715. 



Thomas Bridge,^ were all buried before King's Chapel was 
thought of, and their tomb alone should serve most emphati- 
cally to disconnect the history of that church with the his- 
tory of the adjoining graveyard. 

I have been unable thus far to learn the burial-place of 
John Wilson, the first pastor of the first church, although 
there is a Wilson tomb in the King's Chapel Yard referred 
to l)y Sewall (II. Diary, p. 411), in which a son of Thomas 
Fitch was buried. He died in 1667, possibly before the 
ministers' tomb was built. Sewall, in his letter to his son 
written 1720 to give him an account of the Sewall family, 
states that "in the year 1667 my father brought me" (to 
Caml)ridge) "to be admitted, by which means I heard Mr. 
Richard Mather of Dorchester, preach Mr. Wilson's funeral 
sermon, 'your fathers, where are they?'" (I. Diary, xiii.) 

Governor John Leverett is intombed in the King's 
Chapel Yard. Sewall refers to his death and burial, but 
only by a brief entry in his almanac, as follows : " 1678-9 
March 16, 1. Governour Leverett dieth. 25, 3 Is buried." 
(I. Diary, p. 48.) He states, however. Vol. III., p. 50, that 
Mrs. Cooke, Leverett's daughter Elizabeth, was interred 
July 23, 1715, "In Govr. Leverett's Tomb in Old burying 
place." 

It is recorded on the l)ronze tablet^ at this, gate of the 
King's Chapel Yard that Governor John Endecott was 



1 Thomas Bridge was a friend of Judge Sewall, who records on the d:iy of 
his death, 1715, " Tr. 20 Between 11 and 12 Mr. Bridge expires; with him 
much primitive Christianity is gone, the Old Church, the Town, the Prov- 
ince have a great loss." The bearers at the funeral were all ministers and 
represented the Old North, the Roxbury, the Brattle street, the Old South 
and the New North Churches; Dr. Increase Mather. Dr. Cotton Mather; Mr. 
Walter, Mr. Coleman; Mr. J. Sewall, Mr. Jno. Webb. (III. Sewall's Diary, 
5!), 60.) 

- In order more permanently to mark the burial-places of the early leaders, 
bronze tablets have been placed on the gates of the old graveyards of Boston. 
These tablets were suggested by Hon. Robt. C. Winthrop and the inscriptions 
were written by Dr. Samuel A. Green. Those on the gates at King's Chapel 
arc inscribed as follows: — 



buried within its limits.^ The funeral of Lady Andros 
occurred Friday, February 10, 1687-8. Judge Sewall 



KING'S CHAPEL BURIAL GROUND 
1630. 



Here were buried 

GOVERNORS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Jobn Wintlirop 1G49, John Endecott 10G5, 

John Leverett 1679, William Shirley 1771 ; 

LIEUT. GOVERNORS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

William Phillips 1827, Thomas Lindall Winthrop 1841 : 

GOVERNORS OF CONNECTICUT. 

John Winthrop 1676, Fitz-John Winthrop 1707; 

JUDGES OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Wait Still Winthrop 1717, Adam Winthrop 1743, 

Oliver Wendell 1818, Thomas Dawes 1825 ; 

MINISTERS OF BOSTON 

John Cotton 1652, John Davenport 1670. 

John Oxenbridge 1674, Thomas Bridge 1715. 

KING'S CHAPEL BURIAL GROUND. 
1630 



Here were buried 

Jacob Sheafe 1658, John Winslow 1674, 

Mary Chilton 1679, 

A passenger in the Mayflower 

and wife of John Winslow, 

Major Thomas Savage 1682, . 

Lady Andros 1688, 

Captain Roger Clap 1690, Thomas Brattle 1713, 

Professor John Winthrop 1776, 

James Lloyd 1831, Charles Bulfinch 1844. 

1 Without attempting from my present investigation to throw doubt upon 
the accuracy of the statement on the above tablet that Governor John 
Endecott is buried in the King's Chapel Burial Ground, I must refer to evi- 
dence which unexplained would show that he was buried in the Gi'anary 
Burial Ground. There is the following extract from the Records of the Select- 
men of Boston to be found in Document 47, 1879. of the City of Boston, p. 4 : 
'• P. 185. 1721 March 5. Upon a petition of Mr. John Edwards of Boston, 
shewing, that whereas there is a tomb in the South Burying place belonging 
to the Late Governour Endicot, which has been unimproved for many years, 
and there being no family in said town nearer related to the said Governour 
Endicot's family tlian his, desires he may have liberty granted him to make 
use of it for his family. (Jranted that the said John Edwards has liberty 
to improve the said Tomb until a person of better right to it appears to claim 
it." There is no stone in either ground to mark the tomb, and I have found 
no reference to either Endicott or Edwards,[that would identify it. 



9 

attended it " having been invited by the dark of the South 
Company." ^ 

The monument of Thomas Dawes is prominent in this 
burial-ground. Major Dawes was the architect of the lirst 
Brattle-street church. He was an earnest patriot, his 
name being often associated with the leaders of the Ivevo- 
lution.- 

The tomb of Oliver Wendell is number one and is in the 
extreme corner on Tremont street, and next to the building 
of the Massachusetts Historical Society. In this tomb are 
the remains of the maternal ancestors for two generations 
of Oliver Wendell Holmes, and many of his family connec- 
tions. (Document 96, 1879, City of Boston, p. 56.) 

Near- the King's Chapel Yard and on the opposite side of 
Tremont street is a larger burying-ground, called at tirst 
the South Burying-ground, and later, the Granary.'' This 

1 She was buried ill the tomb of Benjamin Church. There is the following 
reference to Iier burial in Bridgmau, p. 3is : a shib on the liottoin of the Church 
tomb states •' here lies the bones of Lady Anno Aiidros." (Bridgmau's King's 
Chapel Inscriptions, p. 318.) 

'^ His epitaph is as follows : 

THOMAS DAWES A. A. S. 

Born Aug*. 5, 1731, Died Jany. 2, 1809, ^t. 78. 

Of his taste for the Grecian simplicity 

In ARCHITECTURE there are many monuments 

Which he raised when that art was new to its. 

The records of Massachusetts shew 

That he was one of her active LEGISLATORS 

From the year 177G, until he was 70 years old; 

When he retired, with faculties unimpaired. 

To the tiscul concerns of this Metropolis, 

To its literary and other Institutions, 

He was a zealous friend. He was an ELECTOR 

At the three tirst elections of President 

of the U. S. and discharged various trusts 

To his own honor and the public weal. 

8 'i'he tablets on the gates are as follows :— 

GR.\NARY BURIAL GROUND 
1660 



Within this ground are buried 
John Hancock, Samuel Adams 



10 

name was taken from the old public granary which stood 
on the site now occupied by the Park-street Church. This 
building was used as a large storehouse for grain, at which 
the poorer people could purchase at a slight advance of 
cost, and would seem to be an old precedent for the muni- 
cipal coal-yard, of which much is heard to-day. 

The earliest date associated with this old graveyard is 
1660. If Governor Endicoit was buried there, his must 
have l^een among the early interments, as he died in 1665. 
Dr. Samuel A. Green thinks that at first the Granary and 
King's Chapel grounds were united and became distinct only 
as Tremont street assumed more importance than a country 
lane.' A distinct name, however, seems very early to have 



and Robert Treat Paiue, 
Si.i;iiers of the Declaration of Independence; 

GOVEKNORS 
Richard Bellingham, WilHam Dumnier, 

James Bowdoin. Increase Sumner, 

James Sullivan and Christopher Gore; 

Lieut. Governor Thomas Gushing; 

Chief Justice Samuel Sewall; 

Ministers John Baily, Samuel Willard, 

Jeremy Belknap and John Lathrop. 

GRANARY BURIAL GROUND 

1660 



Within this ground are buried 
The victims of the Boston Massacre, 
March 5, 1770. 



Joslah Franklin and wife, 

(Parents of Benjamin Franklin) 

Peter Faneuil, Paul Revere; 

and 

John Phillips, 

First Mayor of Boston. 

1 See Public Document of City of Boston, 1879. No. 96, p. 47. 

" I cannot tell wliat has become of the fee of the land, but 1 have an opinion, 
based upon something 1 have seen, that these two graveyards were originally 
one. King's Chapel Graveyard, the oldest in the city, was probably a tract iii 
the outskirts of the village, "and undoubtedly interments were made in a part of 
it which we now call the Granary Burial-ground. Afterwards, when Tremont 
street was laid out, they found a part of the tract of land that had not been used 
for burial, and straightened the street and carried it through, making two sepa- 
rate burial-grounds. I have no doubt lli;it at one time in the early history of 
Boston, the two graveyards were spoken of as tlic same, but the street having 
been laid out, they have practically become two distinct grounds." 



11 

been applied to the King's Chapel Yard. In 1675, Judge 
Sewall writes that Governor AVinthrop was buried in 
the "Old Burying place." Again, in 1685, he records that 
Father Gamaliel Wait and Father John Odiin were buried 
in the "First Burying place," and in the March following 
that "Father Porter was laid in the Old Cemetery." 
These adjectives may have served to distinguish the King's 
Chapel Yard from the North or Copp's Hill Burying-i)lace, 
but there seems to be ground to hold that they refer, also, 
to the South Yard or Granary, which contained Sewall's 
own tomb, and to which he does not as a rule apply any 
word of description, although in January, 1701, he records 
the burial of "Mrs Thair, in the new burying-place close 
to the alms house ground." (II. Diary, 29.) When the 
Granary and Copp's Hill yards were first used in 1660, an 
order was passed by the selectmen, November 5th, direct- 
ing that "the old l>urial place shall be wholly deserted for 
some convenient season and the new places appointed for 
burial only made use of." This order has been supposed to 
refer only to the Copp's Hill ground, and the word "places" 
has been quoted as "place." The original record, however, 
shows that the word used was "places." It probably re- 
ferred to both Copp's Hill and the Granary. It would seem 
to be, therefore, strong evidence that even in November, 
1660, the ground now known as the Granary and the "old 
burial ground " were distinct. 

The earliest tombs were arranged without much order. 
They are scattered throughout the yard, usually marked 
with a large horizontal slab. There are rows of tombs on 
the four sides, in all two hundred and three. 

One of the oldest tombs is that of Governor Richard 
Bellingham, who died in 1672. Governor Bellingham's 
family seems wholly to have disappeared in a few^ years, 
and in 1810, w^e find Gov. James Sullivan interested in re- 
pairing and enlarging this tomb. (City Doc. 47, 1879, p. 
11.) Here Governor Bellingham was carried on his death 



12 

in 1672. There are two slabs over this tomb. The first is 
almost level with the ground, the second is supported 
above it.^ 

Another tomb of the same period as that of Governor 
Bellingham is the Hull or Sewall tomb. In this were 
placed the remains of Capt. John Hull, the old treasurer 
and mint master of Boston, his wife, and their daughter 



The inscriptions are as follows : — 

HERE LIES 

RICHARD BELLINGHAM, ESQUIRE. 

LATE GOVERNOR IN THE 

COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS, 

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE 

ON THE 

7 DAY OF DECEMBER, 1672, 

THE EIGHTY-FIRST YEAR 

OF HIS AGE. 

VIRTUE'S FAST FRIEND WITHIN THIS TOMB DOTH LYE 
A FOE TO BRIBES, BUT RICH IN CHARITY. 

The Bellingham familj- being extinct. 

The Selectmen of Boston in the year 1782 

assigned this Tomb to 

James Sullivan, Esq. 

The remains of Governor Bellinuham 

are here preserved. 

And the above inscription is restored 

from the ancient Monument. 

The family tomb of 

JAMES SULLIVAN, ESQ., 

Late Governor and Commander-in-Chief 

of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 

who departed this life 

on the W^ day of Dec. A. D. 1808,— aged 04 years. 

His remains are here deposited 

During a life of remarkable Industry, activity and 
usefulness, amidst public and private contemporaneous 

avocations, uncommonl)' various, 
lie was distinguished for zeal, intelligence and fidelity. 

Public-spirited, benevolent and social, 
lie was eminently beloved as a man, eminently esteemed 
as a citizen, and eminently respected as a magistrate. 

Huic versatile iugeniura Sic 

pariter ad omnia fuit, ut, ad id ununi dicoi-es 

quod cum que ageret. 



18 

Hannah, her husband Judge Sewall and tlieir children, and 
many descendants. There are many references to this 
tomb in Sewall's diary, 

December 25, 1696, Sewall visits the tomb, at the funeral 
of his daughter Sarah, and makes an entry in his diary 
descrii)tive of the tomb and also characteristic of the w riter. 
He writes, " 'Twas wholly dry and I went at noon to see in 
what order things w-ere set ; and then I was entertained 
with a view of, and converse with, the Coffins of my dear 
Father Hull, Mother Hull, Cousin Quinsey, and my six 
children : for the little posthumous was now took up and 
set upon that that stands on John's ; so are three, one upon 
another twice, on the bench at the end. My Mother ly's 
on a lower bench, at the end, with head to her husband's 
head ; and I ordered little Sarah to be set on her grand- 
mother's feet. 'Twas an awfull yet pleasing Treat ; Having 
said, The Lord knows who shall be brought hither next, I 
came away."' (I. Diary, p. 443.) 

The body of Rev. Samuel Willard, Sewall's pastor at the 
Old South Church, and Vice-President of Harvard College, 
was placed temporarily in the Hull-Sewall tomb, September 
15, 1707, and was removed to the "new tomb built by the 
South Congregation," July 31, 1712. 

Samuel Sewall of Burlington, Mass., in a letter to 
Thomas Bridgman, Septeml)er 21, 1853, states that forty 
persons in all were buried in this toml) before the Kevolu- 
tion. The more prominent of these persons, in addition to 



1 The sl;ib is inscribed ; 



Hon' Judge Sewall's 

Tomb. 

Now the proper tij of his 

Heirs. 

Philip R. Ridgway 

ISIO. 

RALPir HUNTINGTON. 

lSl-2 

No lb!5 

Ralph Pluntiugton. 



14 

the names already given, were Rev. Joshua Moodey, tirst 
pastor of the Church at Portsmouth, Rev. William Cooper 
of the Brattle-street Church, who married Judge Sewall's 
daughter Judith, and Dr. Joseph Sewall, pastor of the 
Old South Church. 

The tomb of Lieutenant-Governor Dummer is near the 
centre of the rear of the ground. It is marked by a 
monument inscribed as follows : — 

This TOMB 

of the Dummer 

and Powell Family's 

was repaired by 

William Powell, 

Ocf 1786. 

The next tomb in order of date, that I care to mention, 

is that of Peter Faneuil, the richest Bostonian of his day, 

and the donor of Faneuil Hall. This tomb is near the 

southwest corner of the yard. The tirst public oration 

in Faneuil Hall, his gift to Boston, was in eulogy of the 

donor, who had but recently died.^ 

The Granary Yard contains the bodies of many of the 
leaders of the Revolution, the more prominent being John 
Hancock, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine and Paul 
Revere. 

The Hancock tomb is on the south side. On a small 
slate stone are the words : — 

No. 16. 
Tomb or 
Hancock. 



i Tlie inscriptiou is below: At the foot of the sliib Is the iirst inscription, 
vvliich can now be faintly traced. 

Peter Faneuil. 

March 3, 1743, 

Jones. Davenport. 

Fette. 

P. Funal. 

1743 



15 

This Hancock tomb at tiist stood in the name of Mr. 
John Hill, l)ut to the list of the Selectmen's office at the end 
of the volume of records from 1715 to 1729 is added in dif- 
ferent ink "Now Thomas Hancock." 

Thomas Hancock, the uncle of Governor Hancock, died 
1764. The body of Governor Hancock was placed in his 
uncle's tomb. The funeral was attended by troops and 
crowds of people, and even the venerable Samuel Adams 
followed the l)ody to the grave, so long as his strength 
would permit. 

Samuel Adams is buried in the Checkley tomb, which is 
partly under the sidewalk on Tremont street, and about 
midway between the gateway and the Tremont House. 
The small stone is so near the sidewalk that the inscription 
can easily be read through the fence. At the top is the 
Checkley Coat of Arms and below the inscription. Adams 
married for his first wife Elizabeth Checkley, daughter of 
Rev. Samuel Checkley, and in this way became connected 
with this old family. The tomb is number sixty-eight. It 
is the first of thirteen tombs confirmed to the builders, their 
heirs and assigns, by the selectmen of Boston, March 23, 
1736-7 and was then recorded in the name of Mr. Richard 
Checkley. 1 

Near the centre of the yard rests the body of Paul 
Revere.^ 

About sixty feet from the north side of the yard and 
twenty from the sidewalk were buried the bodies of the men 



N" 68 Richard Checkley 1737 
Hocce nieiim Corpus, de Funore Viq, Sepulcliri 
Salvjitor Jesus, Sarciet ille ineu.-i 
Christus erit pestes, Mors Frij^ida Tiiq Sepulchrum 
Exitium certum, Mox erit ille Tuum 
A modest stoue marks the place, inscribed as follows : — 

PAUL REVERE, 

Born 

IN Boston, 

January 1734, 

DiEU May, 1818. 



16 

killed in the "Boston Massacre." No stone marks the 
place, although it is said that for a long time a larch-tree 
served as a graceful monument. 

The Franklin monument opposite the entrance is the 
most prominent monument in the Granary Yard. The in- 
scriptions tell their own story. ^ 

In connection with the Franklin monument is an interest- 
ing headstone discovered last spring, when the surfece of 
the Granary Burial-ground was spaded and levelled. This 
stone was in memory of Josiah Franklin's first wife, two of 
their children, and one child of Josiah and Abiah.^ 



1 JOSIAH FRANKLIN, and ABIAH HIS WIFE 

Lie Here Interred 
They lived lovingly together in wedlock fifty five years. And 

WITHOUT an estate, 
OR ANY GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT, BY CONSTANT LABOR AND HONEST INDUSTRY, 

maintained A LARGE 
FAMILY COMFORTABLY, AND BROUGHT UP THIRTEEN CHILDREN AND SEVEN 

GRANDCHILDREN RES 
PECTABLY. From this instance, reader, 1!E ENCOURAGED TO DILIGENCE 

IN THY CALLING. AND DIS 

TRUST NOT Providence. He was a pious and prudent man; she a dis- 
creet AND VIRTUOUS woman. 

THEIR YOUNGEST SON. 

IN FILIAL REGARD TO THEIR MEMORY, PLACES THIS STONE. 

J. F. Born 1655, Died 1744, M. 89. 
A. F. 1667, 1752, — 85. 

The original inscription having been nearly obliterated 

A number of citizens erected this monument, 

as a mark of respect 

for the 

ILLUSTRIOUS author, 
MDCCCXXVII. 

2 'I'lie' copy given below was made by Dr. Samuel A. Green, and is to be 
found in remarks on "The New England Courant, | and its | Young Pub- 
lisher Benjamin Franklin, | 1721-1726." | made by Dr. Green at the meeting 
of the Massachusetts Historical Society, June 11, 1891. The line through 
the inscription represents a break in the stone. 



17 

The burial-grouiul next visited wu.s the Copp's Hill 
Ground at the North End.^ Copp's Hill and the Granary 
were first used as burying-grounds about the same time, in 
1659 and 1(560, respectively. The earliest reference to this 
burying-ground in Sewall's diary is in 1685/(5, February 3d, 
when Mr Henry Phillips was buried "in the New burial 
place." This is the name commonly used by Sewall, 
although he also refers to it as the "North Burial place." 
(I. Sewall's Diary, p. 484.) The present enclosure is made 
of four parcels purchased by the town at different times for 



ANN Y WIFE OF JOSIAH FRANCKLI 
AGED abo' 34 YEARS DIED JULY 

Y 9 ' lO.s'.i 

JOSEPH SON OF JOSIAH & ANN 
FRANCKLINj AGED 15 D^ DIED JULY 

Y 14 16811 

JOSEPH SON OF JOSIAH .^ ANN 

FRANCKLIN, AGED .J D^ DIED FEB." 

I 
Y' i[i ?] 1(J.S8 

EBENEZER [S]ON OF JOSIAH e<: ABIAH 
FRANCKLIN [AGED 16 M" ^ DIED 

FEBC"] Y 5. 170| 

I Tbi! tablet ill the gate is inscribed as follows:— 

COPP'S HILL HUKIAL GROUND 
l(i5!t. 



Here were biirietl 

MINISTERS 

Increase Mtither 1723, Cotton Mather 172S, 

Sanuu'l Mather lT.s5, Andrew Eliot ITTvS 

and 

Thomas Lake, David Copp, Nicholas Upshall, 

John Phillips, Anthony Ilayward, John Clarke, 

and others of the early inhabitants 

of Boston. 

On this jiroiind were planted 

the British Batteries 

which destroyed the Villaj^e of Charlestown 

during the Battle of Bunker Hill 

Juue IT, 1775. 

2 



18 

the purpose of a burial-ground. The ohlest portion is the 
northeast corner. The oldest authentic inscription bears the 
date 1661. It is found on a stone recently unearthed and 
is as follows : — 

David son to David 

Copp and Obedience his 

wife aged 2 weeks 

Dyed Dec 22 

1661. 

The tonil) which has by far the greatest interest is the 
Mather tomb near the easternmost corner of the yard.^ 

The reference in Sewall to the death of Dr. Increase 
Mather is found in Volume Til., p. 326, and the date of his 
death is given as Friday, August 23. The funeral took 
place the following Thursday, August 29. "Thursday, 
Aug. 29th, is buried. Bearers Lt. Govr. Dummer, Samuel 
Sewall ; Mr. President Leverett, Mr. Peter Thacher of 
Milton; Mr. Wads worth, Mr. Col man. Was carried 
round the North Meeting House and so up by Capt. 
Hutchinson's and along by his own House and up Hull 
Street, intfl the Tomb in the North burying place and laid 
by his first wife. Were a vast number of followers and 
spectators." (Sewall's Diary, HI. 326.) There is an apparent 
conflict l)etween the date of his death as gi\en by Sewall 
and the date on the slab. I have seen no reason to doubt 
the date given by Sewall, which is confirmed by the Boston 
Neivs- Letter. 

1 TL(!ro is ii phiiu liorizoutal stone slab, ou which is inscribed : — 

Mather 

Tomb 

The Reverend Doctors 

Increase. Cotton 

& Samuel Mather 

were interred in this Vault, 

'Tis the Tomb of our Father's 

Mather Croekers 

I died Augt 27th 1723 M 84 

C died Feby 13"i 1727 M 65 

S died June 27"! 1785 M 79. 



19 

TIio death and burial of Dr. Cotton Mather are also re- 
corded by Sewall. The following extracts are taken from 
his diary for 1727-8: "Febr. 13 Tuesday Dr. Cotton 
Mather dies. Monday Febr. 19 Dr. Cotton Mather is in- 
tombed : Bearers, the Revd. Mr, Colman, .Mr. Thacher ; 
Mr. Sewall, Prince; Mr. Webb, Cooper. The Church went 
before the Corps. First the Revd. Mr. Gee in mourning 
alone, then 3 deacons, then Capt. Hutchinson, Adam 
Winthrop Esqr Col. Hutchinson - Went up Hull Street. 
I went in a coach. All the council bad gloves; I had a 
pair. It seems when the mourners returned to the House, 
Mr. Walter said. My Bror. had better beai-ers : Mr. Prince 
answered They bore the better part. Mr. Walter prayed 
excellently." It would seem from this extract that the date 
of Cotton Mather's death as given on the stone slab is mis- 
leading, and that the date on the gate represents the true 
date, after the necessary change from Old to New Style has 
been made. 

In this same tomb, Rev. Mather Byles was probably buried. 

The tomi) was opened in 1884, on the death of Rebecca 
Eaton Parker. Edward McDonald, the superintendent, 
states that the remains of the Mathers are on the right side 
of the tomb. It is a large tomb, and undoubtedly contains 
a score and more of bodies. 

The Hutchinson tomb should be mentioned in any ac- 
count of Copp's Hill burial-ground, however brief. This 
tomb is marked I)y a slal) on which are the Hutchinson 
Arms, and the name Thomas Lewis. This torab seems to 
have been appropriated, and the original name chiselled oH'. 
It is doubtful if the remains of any of the tirst occupants 
are there to-day. It is pr()i)able that the bodies of Thomas 
Hutchinson, and Elisha Hutchinson, father and grandfather 
respectively of Governor Thomas Hutchinson, were placed 
in this tomb and also the bodies of the wife and son of the 
Governor, who, after his retirement to England, writes to 
have them removed to Milton. 



20 

There are several stones that are said to l)ear the marks 
of English liullets, having been used as targets by the un- 
welcome Eedcoats. The stone of Capt. Daniel Malcoin 
would seem to be the stone most likely to receive such at- 
tention from the British soldiers, as the stone records that 
he was 

a true sou of Liberty 

a Friend to the Publick 

an Enemy to oppression 

and one of the foremost 

in opposing the Revenue Acts 

on America. 
Copp's Hill derives additional historic interest from the 
fact, as stated on the gate, that there the batteries were 
placed which were fired upon Charlestown, June 17, 1775. 
The surface of Copp's Hill probably is the largest area 
within the limits of the old Boston that can suggest to-day 
its appearance at the time of the battle of Bunker Hill. 

The Phipps-street Burial-ground in Charlestown is older 
than Copp's Hill and the Granary. When all of the mem- 
bers of the party had gathered near the Harvard Monument 
which crowns the hill, Mr. James F. Hunnew^ell kindly 
made a statement regarding the burial-ground in substance 
as folloW'S : "The early settlers generally brought with 
them the English custom of burying their dead near their 
places of worship. The Phipps-street Burial-ground is an 
excei)tion to that custom. It is an early example — proba- 
bly the first in New England — of a rural cemetery. The 
meeting-hoiise was in the market-place, and no time before 
the Revolution did the town extend above Thompson 
Square. There were only scattered buildings in this part 
of the town. It was a retired place in the country, very 
secluded, and not far from the waters of a bay, across which 
a person could look to Cambridge and Harvard College. 

"The earliest burials in town were ver^^ near the market- 
place. Very early in the history of the town, probably in 



21 

1640, this burial-place was laid out. There is one interest- 
ing feature about the arrangement of the graves. The 
early families are all represented and the location and 
direction of their graves correspond with the relative posi- 
tions of their houses. For example, here are graves of 
Russells, Carys, Frothinghams, Samsons, Phippses ar- 
ranged roughly to correspond with the arrangement of their 
houses. 

"The earliest stone bears the date of 1642, and marks the 
grave of Maud Russell. Another early stone is that of 
John Fownell, 1654. There are eight stones in all dated 
earlier than 1670, and one hundred and fifty-eight earlier 
than 1701. Not many persons of wide reputation are 
buried here, but there are very many good respectable 
people. 

"The Harvard monument was placed here by the College 
in 1828. John Harvard died 1688 and it is doubtful 
where he was buried. There is a tradition that there was 
a Harvard stone in this burial-ground which stood until the 
Revolution." This story is told by Edward Everett in his 
oration at the dedication of the monument erected by the 
college, as follows : "There is a tradition that till the Rev- 
olutionary war, a gravestone was standing within this en- 
closure over the spot where his ashes repose. With other 
similar memorials it was destroyed at that period ; and 
nothing bat the same tradition remains to guide us to the 
hallowed spot. Upon it we have erected a plain and simple 
but we trust permanent memorial." 

It would seem that the inference from all that can l)e 
learned on the subject is that the remains of Harvard are 
near the top of this hill. The names of the most prominent 
people are found here. In 1828, Edward Everett was liv- 
ing in Charlestown and must have been acquainted with 
persons who could remember how things looked at the Rev- 
olution. 

The celebrated stone of Elizal^eth Phillips is found in 



22 

this y'li'^- She was the midwife whose presence at the 
birth of three thousand children in the course of a busy 
professional life extendi ng over fifty years is recorded on 
her gravestone.^ 

Some mischievous person has changed this most worthy 
record from H, ()()() to lo(),0()0 by prefixing the figure 1 and 
adding an 0. 

The Mather tomb in the Copp's Hill Burial-ground asso- 
ciates that place with the Old Burial-ground of Dorchester, 
for in this latter place is buried Richard Mather, the third 
minister of Dorchester, of whom this Society possesses an 
original picture. He was the father of Increase and the 
elder Sanniel, and the first of his name in Massachusetts. 
Uichard Mather died in 1069.^ Sevvall states that he heard 



' Tlie inscription is as follows : — 

Here Lyes Interred y Body of 
M'^ Elizabeth Phillips, Wife 
to M' Eleazek Phillips ; Who 
was Born in Westminster', in Great 
Brittain, & Coraraiflioned by John 
Lord Bishop of London, in y Year 
1718, to y Office of a Midwife; vt came 
to this Country in y Year 1719 & by 
ye Blessing of God has Brought into 
this world above 730006' Children. 
Died May 6''^ 1761, Aged 76 Years. 

- The inscription in memory of Richard Mather is as follows :■ 
DOM. Sackr 

RiCHARDUS IIIC DORMIT MaTIIKRUS 

(SED NEC TOTUS NEC MORA DIUTURNA) 

LARTATUS GENUI8SE PARES 

inckrtum est ijtrum doctioran melior 
anima & gloria nun queunt humani 

Divinely rich & learnd Richard Mather 

thcr 

vSons like him PRoriiKTS great reioicd this fa 

down 

Short time his sleeping dust heres couerd 

NOT his ascended SPIRIT OR RENOWN 

IT D M IN Aug. 16 An" in Dorc. N A 34 an 
Oirr. Apr 22 1669 Aet Suae 73. 



23 

him preach, presumahly at Cambridge, the funeral .scnnoii 
of John Wilson, in KKw. At the entrance to this burial- 
place is another of the bronze ta])lets for which Boston is 
indebted to Dr. Green.' 

The monument of Governor Stoughton is tlie object of 
greatest interest in the Dorchester Burial-ground. Scwall 
refers to the death and funeral of Governor St(Highton, July 
13 and 15, 1701, but evidently he did not attend the 
funeral. Later, however, Feby. 1, 1703/4, he visits Dor- 
chester, and writes, "Before Lecture, I rid into the Bury- 
ing place and read Mr. Stoughton's Epitaph, which is very 
great." (IL Diary, p. iJ4.) 

The epita[)h to which he refers was re[)aircd by Harvard 
College in lb2>), and can be distinctly read to-day. ~ 



1 The inscription is as follows : — 

DORCHESTER BURIAL GROUND 



Here were bnried 

Governors 

William Stoughton 1701, William Taiier 1T3J; 

MlXISTKRS 

Richard Mather 1609, .Josiah Flint 1G80, 

John Danforth 1730, Jonathan liowinan 1775, 

Moses Everett 1S13, Thaddcus Mason Harris 1S42; 

Major Gen. Humphrey Athcrton 1661, 

William Pole, Schoolmaster, 1074. 

John Foster, First Printer of Boston, lOSl, 

Tsaae Royall 1739, James Blake, Annalist. n.'iO. 

and Ebenezer Clapp 1881. 

Gulielmus Stoughtonus, Armiger, 

Provinciae Mas.sachusettensis in Nova Anglia Lcgatus 

deinde Gubernator; 

Nec-non Curiae in eadem Provincia Superioris 

lusticiarius Capitalis, 

Hie Jacet 
Vir Conjugij Nescius, 
Religione Sanctus, 

Virtute Clarus, 

Doctrina Celebris, 

Ingenio Acutus 

Sanguine et animo pariter lUustris, 



24 

"The monument over Stoughton's grave in the Dorches- 
ter Burial-ground having fallen, the Corporation of the 
College, in 1828, caused it to be repaired, and the tablet 
which was 'cracked in two' cemented. The elegant epi- 
taph on it, adapted, it is said, by Mather, corresponds 
nearly word for word with the one l)y Aimonius Proust de 
Charabourg, Professor of law in the University of Orleans, 
which is inscribed on the tomb of Blaise Pascal, who died 
in 1662." (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, vol. I., p. 207.) 

This epitaph was the tribute of the President of Harvard 
College to the Chief Judge who sat on the trials of the Salem 
witches, and who, as tradition states, felt no repentance for 
the deeds of that court, saying he had no confession to 
make as he had acted according to the best light God had 
given him. (I. Sewall's Diary, p. 446.) 

The tomb of Humphrey Atherton is marked with a large 

Aeqnitatis Amator, 

Legum Propugnator, 

Collegij Stoiightoniani Fundator, 

Literarura & Literatorum Fautor Celeberrimns 

Impietatis & Vitij Hostis Acerrimus, 

Hunc Rhetores amant Facuiidurn, 

Hunc Scriptores norunt Elegantem 

Hunc Philosophi quaeruut Sapientem 

Hunc Doctores laudant Theologum, 

Hunc Pii venerantur Austerum, 

Hunc Omnes Mirantur; Omnibus Ignotuin 

Omnibus licet Notum 

Quid Plura, Viator! Quem perdidimus 

Stoughtonum I 

Heu ! 

Satis dixi, Urgent Lachryraae, 

Sileo, 

Vixit Annos Septuaginta ; 

Septimo Die Julij, Anno Salutis 1701 

Cecidit. 

Heu ! Heu ! Qualis Luctus ! 



25 

horizontal slab, at the top of which is a sword and Ixdow an 
inscription.^ 

It is unfortunate that Major-General Huniphre}- Atherton, 
whose virtues are recorded in this ci)ilaph, is said to have 
met his death as he was riding home from a review of his 
troops in Boston, as his horse came into collision with a 
stray cow. The manner of his death undoubtedly gave rise 
to stories not wholly creditable, as we find that "Thomas 
Maule, Shopkeeper of Salem," was called into Court in 
1()95 to answer for his printing and publishing a pamphlet 
"stuffed with notorious Lyes and Scandals." The book 
was ordered to be burned and the writer acknowledged that 
what was written concerning the circumstances of Major- 
General Atherton's death was a mistake. (I. Sewall's 
Diary, p. 416.) 

The epitaph over the tomb of William Pole, school- 
master, is one of the most remarkable in this burial-ground. 
It is as follows : — 

Y . EPITAPH . OF . William . Pole . whkmi . he . tiemselk 

MADE . WHILE . HE . WAS . YET . LIVING . IN . REMEMBRANCE . OV 

HIS . OWN . DEATH . & . LEFT . IT . TO . BE . INGRAVEN . ON . HIS 

t ty 

TOMB . Y . SO . BEING . DEAD . HE . MIGHT . WARN . POSTERI 

reader 

c 

OR . AKESKMBLANCE . OF . A . DEAD . MAN . BESPEAKING . Y 

HO . PASSENGER . TIS . WORTH . THY . PAINS . TOO . STAY 

e 
X- . TAKB . A . DEAD . MANS . LESSON . BY . Y . WAY 

I . WAS . WHAT . NOW . THOU . ART . & . THOU . SHALT . BE 



1 [Sword.] 

He A RE . LYES . OUR . CaPTAINE . AND .MaIOR.OF . SUFFOLK . WAS . WITH ALL 

A . GODLY . MAGISTRATE . WAS . HE . AND . MAIOR . GENERALL 

Two . TROVPS . OF . HORS . WITH . HIME . HERE . CAME . SUCir . WORTH . HIS . 

LOVE . DID . CRAVE 
Ten . COMPANIES . OF . FOOT . ALSO . MOVRNING . MARCHT . TO . HIS . GRAVE 
Let . ALL . THAT . READ . BE . SURE . TO . KEEP . THE . FAITH . AS . HE . HAS . DON 

AViTH . Christ . he . lives . now . crowned . his . name . was . Hamphrev . 
Atiieriox 

His . DYED . TlIU . h> . or . SKl'TliMUKU . ItHU 



2(> 



WHAT . I . AM . NOW . W HAT . ODDS . TWIXT . ME . & . THEE 

NOW . GO . THY . WAY . BUT . STAY . TAKE . ONE . WORD . MORE 

(lore 
e 
THY . STAF . FOR . OUGHT . THOU . KNOWEST . STANDS . NEXT . Y 
e e 

DEATH . IS . Y . DORE . YEA . DOR . OF . HEAVEN . OR . HELL 

]5E . WARNED . BE . ARMED . BELIEUE . REPENT . FARIEWELL 

The Old Roxbury Burial-ground at the corner of Wash- 
ington and Eustis streets is the last of the more important 
))urial-places of Boston.' 

The Dudley tomb is covered by a perfectly plain slab 
inscribed with the one word Dudley. Yet this tomb 
approaches most nearly in historic interest the Winthrop 
tomb in the King's Chapel Yard. 

Here are the remains of W'inthrop's Deputy, Thomas 
Dudley, who was also four times called to serve as Gov- 
ernor. His son, Joseph Dudley, for many years Governor, 
is buried in the same tomb.^ 



1 At the i^ate is the inscriptiou : — 

ROXBURY BURIAL GROUND 



Here were buried 

Governors 

Thomas Dudley 1653. Joseph Dudley 1720: 

<.'}iief Justice Paul Dudley 1752, Col. William Dudley 1743 

Ministers 

Johu Eliot, the apostle to the ludians, 1690, 

Thomas Walter 1725, Nehemiah Walter 1850, 

Oliver Peabody 1752, Amos Adams 1775, 

Eliphalet Porter 1833, 

and 

Benjamiu Tompsou, Schoolmaster aud Physician, 1714. 

" We have the followiug accouut of his fuueral : — 

•'Aprils (1720) Govr. Dudley is buried iu his father Govr. Dudley's Tomb 
at Roxbury. Boston aud Roxbury Regiments were under Arms, and 2 or 3 
Troops: Bearers, His Excellency Governor Shute, Samuel Sewall; Col. 
Towusend, Col. Applctou; Mr. President Leverett, Col. Samuel Brown. 
Scarvs, Rings, Gloves, Scutcheons. Counsidors and Ministers had scarvs, 
and Cousulary Men. Col. Otis, Thaxter, Quincy, Dows, Norden, Judge 
Lynde, Col. Pain were there out of Town .... were very many people, 
spectators out of windows, on Fences and Trees like Pigeons. The Bells in 
Boston were rung for the Funeral ; vvhicli was finished when the sun was 
near an hour high." (III. Sewall's Diary, p. 249.) 



27 

Paul Dudley, .the son of Josej)!!, rests with his fatlier 
and grandfather. He was a talented and al)h' lawyer and 
Judge, and served from 1745 to his death in \li')-2 as 
Chief Justice, and was the founder of the Dudh'i.in U'l-t- 
ures at Harvard. 

The Parish tomb' is near the Dudley tonjh and is most 
noted as containing the ashes of John Eliot.'- 



Here lie the remains of 
JOHN ELIOT. 

Tlio 

Apostle TO THE Indians. 

Ordained over the First Ciiurcli Nov. 5, 1G32 

Died May 20, 1690. Aged. LXXXVl. 



Also, of 

THOMAS WALTER 

Ordained Oct. 19, 1718, Died Jan. 10, 1725, 

Aged XXIX. 



NEHIMIAH WALTER 

Ordained Oct. 17, 1()88. Died Sept. 1750. 

Aged LXXXVII. 



OLIVER PEABODY 

Ordained Nov. 7, 1750. Died May 29. 1752 

Aged XXXII. 

AMOS ADAMS 

Ortiained Sei)t. 12, 1753. Died Oct. 5, 1775 

Aged LIV. 



ELIPHALET PORTER 

Ordiiined Oct. 2, 1782. Died Dec. 7, 1833. 
.Vged LXXV. 
2 Sewall lias the following passages relating to the death and funeral of 
Eliot: " Wednesday, May 21, 1()90. Mr. Eliot dies about one in the morning: I 
visited him as I came from New Yorl< : This puts our election into mourning." 
"Friday. May 23. After having sat in Council awhile went to Mr. Eliot's 
funeral": Governour [Simon Bradstreet] and Dept. Governour [Thomas Dan- 
fortli] &c. there. Bearers, Mr. Allin, Morton, Willard, Fiske, riol)art. 
Nehem, Thatcher. Mr. Torrey and Danforth not there. Mr. Duiner of York 
there: He eomes to ask help; Tis doleful news we have to celebrate Mr. 
Eliot's funeral witli. Casteen is said lo head about 70 French, and Indians are 
above Two Hnn.lred. C'apt. Willard came away the very day before the 
attack." 



28 

Another stone which attracted general attention was that 
which niai'ks the burial-place of "ye herse" ^ of Mr. Benj. 
Tompson, learned schoolmaster and physician, and re- 
nowned poet of New England.^ 

This completes the account of the more prominent graves 
visited under the circumstances stated. The account is 
necessaril}^ brief and dry, and cannot express the satisfac- 
tion and gratification of all members of the party, and their 
keen appreciation of the kind thoughtfulness of their leader 
and host. 

Later, in July as has alread}^ been stated, the same party 
visited Quincy as guests of Mr. Charles Francis Adams. 

The Old Braintrey Burial-ground, or the Hancock ceme- 
tery of Braintrey, as it was known before there was a town 
of Quincy, deserves a high place in a list of the historic 
graveyards of New England. Representatives of many of 
the leading colonial families were buried there, families 
which have since become still more eminent by the lives of 
many honorable and famous descendants. 

As in several other burial-grounds already described so 
here there is a "Ministers' Tomb." In it were placed the 
bodies of the following ministers of the First Church : — 

Rev. Moses Fiske, 3d minister; Rev. Joseph Marsh, 



1 The use of the word "herse" on gravestones was at that time not un- 
common, aud other instances will be found in Braintree. The firiijinal mean- 
ing was the coffin or vessel containing a body, but now it is applied only to 
the vehicle for the dead. 

2 Tlie inscription on this stone is : — 

SUB SPE IMMORTALI, Y^ 

TERSE OF M"^ BENJ HOA'PS"" 

LEARNED SCHOOLMASTER 

& PHYSICIAN .<: Ye 

RENOU>KD POET OP N. ENGi. : 

OBIIT APRILIS 13= ANS'O DOM 

1743 & AETATI8 SUAE 72. 

MORTUUS SED IMMORTALIS, 

IE THAT WOULD TRY 

WHAT IS TRUE H PPINK^s INDEED 

MUST DIE. 



29 

4th minister; Rev, Jolin Hancock, 5th minister; Rev. 
Anthony Wibird, 7th minister; Rev. Peter Whitney, 8th 
minister.^ 



i On the t'aco of the horizontal slab is the inscription : — 

M'. Fiskc, ofi Minister in this Town dec Aug 10, 1708 

in the 36"» year of his ministry ^t 6."). 

Braintrey ! thy Prophet's ii;oue this tomb inters 

The reverend Moses Fisk his sacred herse, 

Adore Heav'ns Praise-ful art that forni'd the man 

Who souls not to himself but Christ oft wan 

SaiI'd thro tlie Straits with Peter's family. 

Renowned and Gaius's Hospitality 

Paules patience, James his prudence, Johns sweet love. 

Is landed, enter'd clear'd, crown'd above, 

Obiit August the X MDCCVIII Aetatis 
suae LXVI 
Mr^ Ann Marsh died May 27, 1773 Age 95. 
Rebuilt by the Ladies of Quincy, 1812. 

Mr Fisk's wives were here entombed 

viz Sarah dee Dec 2, 1092 Mt 39 

2"<i Anna formerly wife of Dan' Quincy 

and mother of Hon John Quincy 

dec July 21, 1708 iEt [4?] 5 

On the sides are the inscriptions: — 

Here rest the remains of 

Rev. Joseph Marsh, 4"' Minister of the 

1st Cong. Church in this Town, dec'i March 8, 1725-G, 

in the 1:1*' year of his age, and the 17"' of his ministry; 

Rev John Hancock, SHi Minister of the 

1^' Cong. Church in this Town, and father of 

John Hancock the Patriot, dec^ May 7, 1744. 

in the 42'' year of his age, and the IS"' of his ministry ; 

Rev Anthony Wihikd, 7"' Minister of the 

Is' Cong Church in tliis Town, 

deed June 4"' 1800 in tlie 46'i> year 

of his Ministry, aged 72 years. 

Here rest the remains of 

XoKiu.N (iriNcv Esq. dec' S<>p. 29, ISOl, JOt 84 y^ 11 mo 2 d\ 

Rev Peter Whitney, S"' Minister of the 1-' Cong. Church 

in this Town, dec'' March .>, 1848, in the 74"> year of his age 

and the 44"' of his ministry, 

and .M'-^ Jane, his wife, dec"' Nov. 11, 1832, in the 57"' year of her m'. 

Ahby Warken, daughter of Rev W. P. Lunt 

deed Sept 12. 1841, /Kt 15 mos. 4 d^ 



30 

The stone that bears the earliest date is over the tirst 
minister, Rev. William Tompson.^ 

The earliest interment, however, of which there is rec- 
ord is that of Mrs. Joanna Hoar, mother of John Hoar, 
ancestor of the illustrious Massachusetts family bearing this 
name. The tomb in which she was buried is known as the 
tomb of her son Dr. Leonard Hoar, President of Harvard 
CoUeo-e.^ 



1 It is insc-ribed: — 

HERE LYES BURIED Y 
BODY OF Y REQERED 
MK WILLIAM TOMPSON 
Y FIRST PASTOR OF 
BRAINTRY CHURCH WHO 
DECEASED DECEIVBk Y 10 
1666 ^TATIS SUE 68 

Re wan a learned, solid, sound divine, 

Whose name and fame in boath lEngland did shine. 

■^ Tbu inscriptiou which was restored some years ago by the Hoiionil)le 
George F. Hoar, is as follows : — 

Three precious friends under this tombstone lie, 

Patterns to aged, youth, and infancy, 

A great mother, her learned son, with child. 

The first and least went free, he was exiled 

In love to Christ, this country, and dear friends 

He left his own, cross'd seas, and for amends 

Was here extoll'd, envy'd,all in a breath. 

His noble consort leaves is drawn to death. 

Stranger changes may befall us ere we die. 

Blest they who well arrive eternity. 

God, grant some names, O though New England's friend. 

Don't sooner fade than thine, if times don't mknd. 

Epitaph wrote for the Tomb of 

Leonard Hoar. Doctour of 

Phisicke who departed this life 

In boston the 28 November 

Was interred here thk 6 December 

AND WAS aged 45 YEARS. 

Anno Dom. 1675. 

The great mother referred to in this epitaph is Mis. Joanna Hoar, who died 
1661. 



81 

One of her daughterts, Murgery, maiTied Rev. Henry 
Flint, both of whom are })uried near by under a stone with 
the following inscription: — 

Here lyes interred y*" Body of y*" Rev' M'" Henry Flynt 

who came to New England in y*^' Year 1()35, was 

Ordained y^ first Teacher of y'' Church of Braintri/ 

1639, and" Died April 27, 1668. Fie had y« 

Character of a Gentleman Remarkable for his 

Piety Learning Wifdom & Fidelity in his Office. 

By him on his right hand lyes y'" Body of Margery 

his beloved contort who Died March 1686/7. her 

maiden name was Hoau. She was a Gentlewoeman 

of Piety, Prudence & i)eculiarly accomplished 

for inftructing young Gentlewoemen, many being 

fent to her from other Towns, efpecially from Boston. 

They descended from antient and good family s in England 

The ancestral line of President John Adams can be 
traced, step by step, on the tombstones in this cemetery. 

First, there is Henry Adams the emigrant, in whose 
memory is the following inscription, written by ejohn 
Adams : — 

In memory of 
Henry Ada m s 
who took his flight from the Dragon 
persecution in Devonshire, in England, 
and alighted with eight sons, near 
INIount WoUaston. One of the sons 
returned to England : and after taking 
time to explore the countr}^ four 
removed to Medfield and the neighbour 
ing towns. Two to Chelmsford. One on 
ly, Joseph, who lies here at his left hand 
remained here, who was an Original 
Proprietor in the Township of Braintvee 

incorporated in the year 1639. 
This Stone and several others have been 
placed in this yard, by a great-great grandson 
from a veneration of the piety, humility, 
simplicity, prudence, patience, temperance, 



32 

frugality, industry, and perseverance of 
his Ancestors, in hopes of recommending 
an imitation of their virtues to their 
Posterity. 

This inscription is on a marble slal) set into a flat granite 
slab. At the foot is the original stone in which there is a 
recess in which probably a metal plate bearing an inscrip- 
tion was placed. 

The inscription accompanying the above in memory of 
Joseph Adams, senior, is as follows : — 

Dedicated 

to the memory of 

Joseph Adams, senior 

who died December 6, 1694, 

and of Abigail his wife 

whose first name was 

Baxter, who died Aug. 27, 

1692 : by a iireat s^randson 

in f817'" 

The third step in the line of descent is represented in the 
inscription : — 

In memory of 

Joseph Adams, son of 

Joseph senior and grandson of 

Henry and of Hannah his wife, 

whose maiden name was 

Bass, a daughter of 

Thomas Bass & Ruth Alden, 



1 The older stones inarkiug the graves of Joseph and Abigail (JJaxter) Adams 
are inscribed :— 



lERE LYE'Ja BURIED 

Y BODY OF 

JOSEPH ADAMS SENIOR 

AGED «8 YEARS 

DIED DECEMBER Y « 

1 !) -i 



EERE LYE'H BURIED 

Y BODY OF 

ABIGAIL ADAMS WIFE 

TO JOSEPH ADAMS SENl 

AGED 58 YEARS 

DIED AUGUST Y 27 

16 9 2 



33 

parents of John Adams, 

and grand parents 

of the lawyer 

John Adams. 

Erected December 1823. 

Another stone, similar to the three already (lescribed, 
marks the burial-place of John Adams, son of Joseph, Jr., 
and father of the "Lawyer" and President, inscribed as 
below : — 

Sacked 

to the memory of 

M^ eToiiN Adams 

who died 

May 25, A D 17()1 

Aged 70. 

The name Quincy is seen on many stones in this old 
bury ing-gro und . 

The grave of Edmund Quincy is marked, 
Edmund Quincy 

A. D.'1698. 
Aged 70 Years. 

Judge Sewall visited Edmund Quincy, who was an uncle 
of Hannah, his wife, several times in his last illness. His 
death is recorded by Sewall in 1697-8 "Seventh day, Jan^ 
8. between ten and 11m. Parmiter comes in, and tells us 
that Unckle Quinsey died between 7 and 8 last night. A 
true New England man, and one of our best friends is gone. 
Fourth day Jan-^ 12 1697-8 went to the funeral of my 
dear Unckle, Went in the coach, our horse failing us, . . 
Had my wife. Cousin Quinsey, and Madam Dudley, l^ear- 
ers were Col. Paige, Lt. Col. Hutchinson, Mr. Addington, 
Mr. E'" Hutchinson, Major Townsend, Capt. Duiuer, 
Major Hunt, and Ens. Peniman ; had scarves. Ens. 
Peniman was the only conmiision officer of Braintry that 
could come abroad. ^linisters there, Mr. Torrey, Mr. 
Willard, Mr. Fisk, Thacher, Dauforth, Baxter ; I saw from 
Boston Capt. Hill, Mr. Eliot, Mr. Tay, Beiiet ; Mr. Palmer 
3 



34 

waited on his father and mother Hutchinson." (I. Diary, 
4fi6-7.) 

The wife of Edmund Quincy was Joanna Hoar, daughter 
of Mrs. Joanna Hoar and sister of Mrs. Margery Flint and 
President Leonard Hoar.' 

One other inscription should he given in this connection. 
It is in honor of Josiah Quincy, Jun., and was written by 
John Quincy Adams. ^ 

1 The stone marking her grave is inscribed :— 

lERE LYE13 BURIED 

y BODY OF MRS 

JOANNA QUINSEY 

Y WIFE OF MR 

EDMUND QUINSEY 

AGED 55 YEARS 

DYED Y 16ti> OF 

MAY 1680. 

2 Sacred 
To the memory 

of 

JOSIAH QUINCY JuN^ 

late of Boftou, Barrister at Law, 

Youngest Son of Josiah Quincy, late of this town, Esquire. 

r>rilliaut Talents, uncommon Eloquence, and indefatigable application 

Raised him to the highest eminence in his profefsion. 

His early enlightened, inflexible attachment to 

The caufe of his Country, 

Is attested by Monuments more durable than this. 

and transmitted to pofterity 

By the well known productions of his Genius. 

He was born the 23'* February, 1744, 

And died the 26"! April 1775. 

His mortal remains are here deposited. 

With those of Abigail his wife, 

Daughter of William Phillips, of Boston, Esquire, 

Born on the 14th of April 1745, 

Died on the 25tb of March 1798. 

Stranger, 
In contemplating this Monument 
as the frail tribute of filial gratitude and affection. 
Glows thy bold breast with patriotic flame? 
Let his example point the paths of fame ; 
Or seeks thy heart, averse from public strife, 
The milder grace of domestic life? 
Her kindred virtues let thy soul revere, 
And o'er the best of mothers drop a tear. 



85 

The Adiims line is continued in the o-ranite church which 
stands near the cemetery. Under the vestibule of this 
church in vaulted chambers are the bodies of John Adams, 
his wife Abigail, John Quincy Adams and Louisa Catherine 
Adams. Memorial tablets have been phiced on either side 
of the pulpit in the body of the church.' The burial- 



LHiERTATEM AMICITIAM PLDEM RETINEBIS 
D. O. M. 

Beneath these Walls 

Are deposited the Mortal Remains of 

JOHN ADAMS. 

Son of John and Snsanna [Boylston] Adams, 

Second President of the United States. 

Born f5 October 1735. 

On the fonrth of July 1776 

He pledged his Life, Fortune and Sacred Honour 

To the Independenck Of His Country. 

On the third of Septemlier 1783 

He allixed his Seal to the definitive Treaty with Great Britain 

Which acknowledged that Independence. 

And consummated the Redemption of his Pledge. 

On the fourth of July 1826 

He was summoned 

To the Independence of Immortality, 

And to the Judgment Of His God. 

This House will bear witness to his Piety : 

This Town, his Birth-Flace. to his Munificence: 

History to his Patriotism : 
Posterity to the Depth and Compass of his Mind. 

At his Side 

Sleeps till the Trump shall Sound 

ABIGAIL, 

His beloved and only Wife, 

Daughter of William and Elizabeth [Quincy] Smith. 

In every Relation of Life a Pattern 

Of Filial, Conjugal, Maternal and Social Virtue. 

Born November 2^ 1744, 

Deceased 28 October 1818. 

Aged 74. 

Married 25 October 1764. 
During an Union of more than Half a Cenlury 



chamber is entered from the basement of the church and is 
guarded by a granite door which is opened with difficulty. 
On either side of the entrance are the liodies of John Adams 
to the left, and Abigail Adams on the right. The original 



They snivived, in Harmony of Sentiment, Principle and Affection 

The Tempests of Civil Commotion ; 

Meeting undannted, and surmounting 

The Terrors and Trials of that Revolution 

Which secured the Freedom of their Country ; 

Improved the Condition of their Times : 

And brightened the Prospects of Futurity 

To the Race of Man upon Earth. 

PILGRIM. 
From Lives thus spent thy earthly Duties learn ; 
From Fancy's dreams to active Virtue turn : 
Let Freedom, Friendship, Faith, thy Soul engage, 
And serve like them thy Country and thy Age. 

ALTERI SECULO 

A - O 

Near this Place 

Reposes all that could die of 

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 

Son of John and Abigail [Smith] Adams, 

Sixth President of the United States, 

Born 11 July. 17G7. 

Amidst the Storms of civil Commotion 

He nursed the Vigor 

Which nerves a Statesman and a Patriot, 

And the Faith 

Which inspires a Christian. 

For more than half a Century, 

Whenever his Country called for his Labors, 

In either Hemisphere or in any Capacity, 

He never spared them in her Cause. 

On the twenty fourth of December, 1814, 

He signed the second Treaty with Great Britiiin, 

Which restored Peace within her Borders, 

On the twenty third of February, 1848, 

He closed sixteen years of eloquent Defence 

Of the Lessons of his Youth, 

By dying at his Post 
In her great national Council. 



37 

chamber was only for two bodies, l)ut it was enlarged to- 
wards the right for the bodies of John Quincy Adams and 
his wife. Each body is in a massive granite sarco{)hagus, 
securely sealed by heavy granite slabs. Each sarcophagus 
is marked in plain capital letters with the full name. 

John Louisa 

John Adams. Abigail Adams. Quincy Catherine 

Adams. Adams. 
From this historic and sacred church the party proceeded 
past the site of the oldest church in Braintree, in the mid- 
dle of the highway, to the Episcopal Church, where records 
were shown under date of 1728 in the hand of Rev. 
Ebenezer Miller, who was appointed Missionary for Brain- 
tree, N. E., in 1727. The records of baptism of slaves, 
and prayer-books mutilated by the tearing out of the pray- 
ers for the King, were historic relics dearly prized. In the 



A Son worthy of his Father 

A Citizen, shedding glory on his Country, 

A Scholar, ambitious to advance Mankind, 

This Christian sought to walk humbly 

In the Sight of his God. 

Beside him lies 

His Partner for fifty Years 

LOUISA CATHERINE 

Daiigliter of Joshua and Catherine [Nuth] Johnson. 

Born, 12 February, 1775, 

Married, 26 July 1797, 

Deceased, 15 May, 1852. 

Aged 77. 

Living through many Vicissitudes, and 

Under high Kesponsibilities, 

As a Daughter, Wife and Motiier, 

She proved equal to all. 

Dying, she left to her Family and her Sex 

The blessed Kemembrance 

Of a 'Woman that feareth the Lord.' 

" Herein is tliat saying true, one sowetii and another reapeth. I sent you to 

re:ip tiiat whereon 
Ye beslowfd no labor, other men labored and ye are entered into tlieir labors." 



38 

Episcopal cemetery is the tomb of Ebenezev Miller, who 
died in 17H3, and the orave of Ralph Shirley, an infant 
son of Governor Shirley, who was born Jan., 1734, and 
died while his parents were in Quincy, Aug., 1737. 

The old Adams houses where, it is stated, John Adams 
and John Quincy Adams were born, are together, a short 
distance from the centre of the city. These houses are still 
carefully preserved and are occupied. 

The old Quincy house is an inviting residence, after the 
colonial style. The house was built in 1705, or 1707, by 
Edmund Quincy, 3d, who married Dorothy Flynt. Here 
was the home of Tutor Flynt, the well-known tutor of 
Harvard College. The tutor's chamber is still pointed out. 
Indeed, the house and grounds are so little changed that 
Judge Sewall, could he visit them, would know perfectly 
how to turn into Cousin Quincy's, and how to find "the 
chamber next to the Brooke," in which he lodged, March 
28, 1712. 

The pleasures of a visit to the old Quincy house were an 
introduction to those of seeing the Adams homestead, the 
home of John Adams in his old age, of his son and grand- 
son, tilled with the family portraits and with the library of 
John Quincy Adams close by. A description of these 
pleasures and many others of the day is not properly within 
the scope of my subject, and reference to them is given 
merely to complete an outline of the day spent at Quincy. 

The last inscription in honor of the Adams line is the 
following, over the grave of Hon. Charles Francis Adams 
in the Mount Wollaston Cemetery; — 

This . stone 

marks . the . grave . of 

CHARLPJS . FRANCIS . ADAMS 

SON . OF . JOHN . QUINCY 

AND . LOUISA . CATHERINE (JOHNSON) 

ADAMS 

Born . 18 . August . 1807 

Trained . from . his . youth . in . politics . and . letters 

His . manhood . strengthened . by . the . convictions 



39 



WHICH . HAD . INSPIKED . HIS . FATHERS 

IlE . WAS . AMONG . THE . FIRST . TO . SERVE 

And . AMONG . THE . MOST . STEADFAST . TO . SUPPORT 

That . new . revolution 
Which . restored . the . principles . of . liberty 

To . PURLIC . LAW 

AND . SECURED . TO . HIS . COUNTRY 

The . FREEDOM . OF . ITS . SOIL 

During . seven . troubled . and . anxious . years 

Minister . of . the . United . States . in . England 

afterwards . arbitrator . A r . the . tribunal . OF . Gf.neva 

He . failed . in . no . task . which . his . Government . imposed 

Yet . won . the . respect . and . confidence 

of . TWO . GREAT . NATIONS 

Dying . 21 . November . 188G 

He . LEFT . THE . EXAMPLE 

OF . HIGH . POWERS . NOBLY . USED 

AND . THE . REMEBRANCE 

OF . A . SPOTLESS . NAME. 

By . HIS . SIDE 

sleeps . his . wife 

Abigail . Brown 

Daughter . of . Peter . Chardon 

and . Anne (Gorham) Brooks 

Born . April . 25 . 1808 
Married . September . 3 . 1829 

Died . June . G . 1889 

His . COMPANION . AND . support 

in . private . life . and . public . station 

Loved . and . honored 

Trusted . and . true 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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